Search the Community

I got my PAM 29M with Swiss movement from Josh today and proceeded to disassemble it right away to get the movement serviced and also to check the quality of parts and assembly...thought some ppl might be interested to read this hence decided to post my impressions. This post wont have any photos as I dont have a decent camera and trying to take shots of tiny parts with a phone camera didnt produce any spectacular results so you going to have to trust my word on this one, sorry! Just a side note - I have had a dozen or so of recent PAM reps from H/N factory and also a couple of used base Gen PAMs that I opened myself to study the guts before selling them off so I have seen a few insides of both best reps and gens. Frankly, after taking this 029M apart I am stunned - if I didnt know these parts were rep parts, I would have been 100% fooled into thinking this is a gen part out. My watchmaker was also shocked then I brought it in disassembled - after inspecting the parts, he said he had never seen a fake that well-made before. Obviously, the movement is an immediate tell but with a closed CB no issue there... The quality of manufacturing and tolerances on these parts are best I've seen - everything fits together nicely, all parts are polished, brushed or decorated to gen level and where required, stamped with great level of attention. Case is very very good. Bezel has a good shape and the depth of engravings for GMT numbers appear to be identical to Gen based on the photos Ive seen. Case-back is surprisingly heavy and engravings are deep and crisp. Swiss-made engraving and swirl-like decoration on the inside of CB is a nice touch. The movement is real Swiss (confirmed by my watchmaker who will do service on it) with Chinese GMT module which appears to be well manufactured from the first glance. Movt is 100% unused (could be NOS?), surgically clean and rotor is very quiet. Even movement screws and clamps are a level above anything else I've seen - great profile, excellent machining, fits right in, leave a very confident feeling that the movement is secure. The spacer is super solid, nicely decorated, snugs very tightly around the movement... just awesome. GMT hand does not jump on the Swiss movement in 1 hr increments as I hear it does on the Asian clone (but I am unsure). Date changes at 12-00 spot on. Better date change than any of auto reps I have ever handled. Cyclop is dead-on centered and appears to be of correct magnification. Dial, hand stack, lume etc - you have seen them on other folks' photos. Under a watchmaker's lupe, dial looks pretty amazing - no sloppy lume bits, very crisp print, solid text with no missing paint, date wheel is nicely done with proper font and 100% fit to the dial text color. The seconds hand on mine is - very slightly - bent but unless under the microscope, one cant see it so I decided to leave it as it is, after checking that it does not impede on others hands...in my opinion it points to the fact that dial and hands installations are still done by hand rather than a machine...which means that it is best to check the alignment yourself as there could be variation in how well they install hands-stack and ensure hands are moving freely, not touching etc. Crystal is the best I've seen in person esthetically - even better than many mid range gens such as Oris, Hamilton or alike - fits the bezel very nicely and flat with the case, fully pressed. I was considering taking it out and replacing with proper gasket but after checking the case for water resistance (passed to 100m), decided not to bother. It has a bit of a blue-ish AR on it under certain angles. I also assume it is a double-side AR which may lead to issues in the future but in person for now looks stunning. It does create an impression that there is no glass, specially in evening lighting. CG is excellent. Nothing much to say - fits the case effortlessly, no gaps, nice fat screws and the lever as tight and as flush as the Gens I had. Polished to a very high quality, pin is super flat. Top-notch job here. Even the brown calf strap it come with is worthwhile keeping! This is normally one accessory that goes right into the garbage bin when I get one of these PAM reps delivered but this one is really, really nice. Obviously, the length is still too short (WHY do they make them so short, WHY???) but by losing one keeper, it fits ok and feels like a $100+ strap, no plastic-y shine to it, very subtle color. Good quality stitching with straight lines and embossing with OP on the underside on this one. Buckle is a regular H factory quality so not much to add... Basically, this is a super rep in every dimension of the term. I am unsure of some little details in terms of accuracy of replication but from the quality of manufacturing prospective this wins hands down over any other rep in my watchbox. WOW!